The Government’s public consultation on possible means to make it simpler and easier for people in England and Wales to change their legal gender concludes on 19 October. Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she wants ‘to see a process that is more streamlined […]
Recent blog posts written by Dr Rick Thomas
The wisdom of repugnance
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has just published its findings in answer to the question ‘what do we mean when we talk about nature, natural/ unnatural and ‘naturalness’? They set out five broad understandings of naturalness: 1. Neutral or sceptic – the view that there […]
New screening test for Down’s creates more problems than it solves
The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) is recommending a new test for pregnant women that will detect a higher proportion of fetuses with Down Syndrome. The test is non-invasive and makes use of cell free DNA from the fetus (cfDNA) circulating in the mother’s blood. […]
Suicide – oh no, assisted suicide – oh yes!
On 19 January, Nick Clegg called for a ‘zero suicides’ target among people suffering from mental illnesses. Almost 4,700 people committed suicide in UK in 2013, at least 90% of whom were thought to be struggling with mental health issues, particularly depressive or substance abuse […]
A Chilling Prospect
‘Smart Women Freeze.’ So states the advert for an ‘egg freezing event’ in New York last week, run by EggBanxx . Over champagne, women anxious to beat their biological clocks by preserving their younger, healthier eggs until such a time when they are ready to […]